Prystay offers opinion on hospitality industry
David Prystay, general manager of the Penticton Lakeside Resort and Convention Centre, spoke candidly with The Herald on March 21 about the COVID-19 crisis and its devastating effects on the hospitality industry.
The Lakeside, owned by RPB Hotels and Resorts, which also operates the Ramada by Wyndham in Kelowna, is normally the South Okanagan's largest employer.
With the provincial government softening rules on social distancing late last week, Penticton Herald editor James Miller followed-up with the long-time hotelier and restaurateur, Friday morning in an empty Hooded Merganser restaurant.
HERALD: When will it be business as usual again at the resort and what guidelines will you have to follow in your restaurants?
PRYSTAY: I don’t have a clue. There’s no date set for restaurants to reopen beyond take-out. There’s no protocol out there yet that’s been approved by the government or WorkSafe BC. WorkSafe BC only has about 26 employees to monitor the whole province that has thousands and thousands of businesses wanting to reopen.
The premier said hotels could open, but those that choose to be, are already open. Hopefully we will get clarification.
The premier uses the term “pub” a lot. A pub is a bar, they’re the same thing. The Barking Parrot has a liquor-primary licence and we serve full meals, all day long. Should we be allowed to open and if we open, should it be more than 49 seats? We are licenced for 328 inside and 200 outside, will they include patios in the 49 seats, or will the patios be an additional 49 seats?
An important question is, why now is there a soft opening? It’s because of business and because of people’s mental health.
In our country, we didn’t clamp down like they did in China because we respect our freedoms. We took a softer approach. It has worked out well in B.C. because we have the lowest rate of death of anywhere in most countries in the world, certainly
North America, and that’s because of the great leadership of Dr. Bonnie Henry and (health minister) Adrian Dix.
HERALD: How do you feel the federal government is doing at handling this crisis?
PRYSTAY: Justin Trudeau and his team are doing a great job. They came to the plate right away and move forward with new ideas every day. They just extended the CERB funding. As a note, when the government announced the 75% funding, here at the hotel we looked at that as a taxable benefit to us as an employer. So we did our math and removed all the deductions we usually pay and gave every hotel employee who is with us a $5 raise for as long as the funding lasts. As for levels of government, we are getting great communication from (CAO) Donny van Dyk at the City of Penticton and with our MLA Dan Ashton and MP Dick Cannings.
HERALD: Unrelated, I am interested in your thoughts on the ban of militaryassault rifles, as someone who was a Vancouver police officer for three years.
PRYSTAY: Good job, Trudeau. We don’t need those guns in this country. You go hunting with a hunting rifle, not an assault rifle. I don’t know too many hunters that mow down a herd of 60 deer with three clips of ammunition.
HERALD: What do you consider to be a fair and safe compromise to reopening the pubs and restaurants?
PRYSTAY: Somebody first has to come up with it. The Food and Beverage Association may suggest some guidelines and hopefully the government approves them and we can open up in some limited style. I suggest six-foot social distancing based on the square footage of the licence that you operate.
HERALD: When do you predict things will go back to normal in the pubs and restaurants, the way we knew them prior to COVID-19?
PRYSTAY: Not until they get a vaccine. I think we will be allowed to open with social distancing. We’ll be doing more cleaning than ever before. Whatever they tell us to do, we will do. We definitely won’t be open with the same level of service. I can’t see the Hooded Merganser being opened seven days a week for three shifts a day. For the Barking Parrot, we will no longer have dance music late at night. We want to hire local musicians to perform on the patio this summer, but it will be solo acts, no trios or bands due to social distancing.
HERALD: At the Lakeside, what are your staffing and occupancy levels presently at?
PRYSTAY: We are down to 26 full-time staff, all key positions, and at this time last year, with seasonal hires, we had 220 employees. It was so hard letting staff go on temporary layoffs, but comforting knowing it wasn’t because of us or a mistake we made. In April — that’s convention season for us — we should have been around the 72% in occupancy, but in April 2020, because of COVID and all conventions and tourists cancelling, we were just at 3%. In April of last year, our total sales between the bars, events department and hotel rooms were just shy of $1 million. This April, it was just shy of $27,000.
HERALD: Air Canada announced last week that it will suspend all flights to Penticton until at least July 1.
PRYSTAY: It’s definitely a negative for the city that we don’t have a proper flight schedule. The guests we get from airline travel are not a lot, but we do get them... conventions and events such as Ironman would be the big ones.
HERALD: Were you sold out for the Ironman week?
PRYSTAY: Well we were, but not now. That event is huge for us, but so is (organizer) Don Kendall’s Peachfest, the car show and the “Elvis-has-left-the-building” festival. Everything that goes on in this city supports hospitality. The wineries keep us going in the fall and spring. The markets are big. There’s great shopping, sports, the BCHL (hockey league), the South Okanagan Events Centre.
HERALD: The downtown markets have been in the news lately, first with closing in the traditional form and then with the Downtown Association not giving a full refund to vendors.
PRYSTAY: Horrible. Spread the stalls and vendors safely out over six blocks. There’s lots of room. As for the vendors, don’t be silly Downtown Penticton Association, give a 100% refund. We gave all of our customers refunds, so their customers should also get refunds. They are holding money back from vendors who, in some cases, are people who don’t make a lot of money.
HERALD: In your opinion, what should Travel Penticton be doing to promote tourism? There are no visitors coming at the moment.
PRYSTAY: Well, they’re not generating any revenue from the hotel tax because the hotels are not collecting tax, because they’re not renting rooms. I’m not sure what they have in their kitty. I know the city owes them $300,000 so they should be using that money to promote Penticton as a safe place to come later on this summer — rubber tire-traffic only, safe beaches, safe hiking areas, safe wineries.
HERALD: It has been suggested in Victoria that with the hotels and motels empty, rooms could be used to house the homeless during the pandemic.
PRYSTAY: That idea does have merit, but only if the government is willing to buy the hotels from the citizens who own them at fair-market value. Then they can do with them what they want.
HERALD: Should rents be forgiven by landlords?
PRYSTAY: I don’t think so. Do you own the building? Do you pay the lease? Do you pay the bank? I’ve forgiven the rent for the three (business) tenants we have at the hotel because it won’t make or break us, but it will help them. Not every landlord can do that.
HERALD: I can answer my own question, but what can local people do to support their favourite businesses so that they’re still around after COVID-19?
PRYSTAY: The big thing is cut back your purchases online. We don’t need any more trillionaires in the world. You can buy local stuff online, but who are you paying to deliver it? Is it FedEx, a major corporation, or someone local? Get out of your house, go for a walk, patronize the cute little shops on Front Street and Main Street and at the mall. The used book store is amazing. Try not to buy your next birthday gift online, buy something locally. Go out to eat in a local restaurant. Our staff supports small businesses like Marketplace IGA, which is locally owned. Nothing against Jimmy Pattison and that crowd, but they’re rich enough. For your next vacation, explore our province. Vancouver Island is great, Nelson is great. I personally love Tofino and Whistler. I know a lot of people who never leave the Okanagan Valley and they’re missing a lot.